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Quiney ton downs England Lions

A dominating hundred from Rob Quiney steered Victoria to an eight-wicket win against England Lions in the first tour match in Melbourne

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Feb-2013
ScorecardRob Quiney struck 16 fours and three sixes in his knock of 122•Getty Images

A dominating hundred from Rob Quiney steered Victoria to an eight-wicket win against England Lions in the first tour match in Melbourne. Chasing 226, Victoria cruised to victory with nearly 14 overs to spare, helped by 16 fours and three sixes from Quiney.Victoria were given a strong start by the openers, Quiney and Chris Rogers, who put together 96 off 68 balls before Rogers fell for 23. Peter Handscomb joined Quiney and the two forged a 125-run partnership in 24.2 overs, almost taking their side to victory. Quiney was the harshest on the bowlers, making 122 off 104 and taking the match away from the tourists. He was dismissed with Victoria just five short of the win but Handscomb’s half-century had also done the damage. Craig Overton, who took 2 for 30, was the only Lions bowlers to go at less than six runs an over.After being put in to bat, the Lions were given a steady start by their openers Varun Chopra and James Vince (43). But Scott Boland struck twice in the 16th over, removing Chopra and James Taylor with the score on 68, and dismissed Ben Foakes for another duck two overs later. Fawad Ahmed joined in and took two wickets, leaving them at 74 for 5.Gary Ballance and Rikki Clarke salvaged the innings from there with a 70-run stand before Clarke was caught behind off the part-time bowling of David Hussey for a patient 25. A flurry of fours and sixes towards the end from Ballance helped the Lions add 33 runs off the last three overs to reach 225 but that target proved some way short in the face of Quiney’s aggression.

الأهلي يهزم كيركوس الإثيوبي 59-8 في بطولة كأس الكؤوس الإفريقية لكرة اليد

استهل الفريق الأول لكرة اليد بالنادي الأهلي “رجال” مشواره في بطولة كأس الكؤوس الإفريقية بالفوز على فريق كيركوس الإثيوبي.

تقام بطولة كأس الكؤوس الإفريقية لكرة اليد “رجال وسيدات” في صالة الأمير عبد الله الفيصل بالنادي الأهلي بالجزيرة، في الفترة من 9-19 مايو الجاري، ويشارك بها 21 فريقًا بواقع 10 فرق في منافسات الرجال و11 فريقا في منافسات السيدات.

أقيمت المباراة على صالة الأمير عبد الله الفيصل بمقر النادي بالجزيرة، وقدم خلالها الفريق عرضًا قويًّا، ونجح في إنهاء اللقاء لصالحه بنتيجة 59-8.

طالع | علي زين: لوائح الاتحاد الدولي تمنعني من المشاركة مع الأهلي في كأس العالم لكرة اليد

وكان الفريق قد توج بلقب بطولة كأس السوبر الإفريقي على حساب الزمالك، وحجز مقعده في بطولة كأس العالم للأندية “سوبر جلوب”.

وشهد افتتاح أشرف صبحي وزير الشباب والرياضة، افتتاح منافسات بطولة كأس الكؤوس الإفريقية بحضور محمود الخطيب رئيس النادي الأهلي وحسن مصطفى رئيس الاتحاد الدولي لكرة اليد، منصورو أريمو رئيس الإتحاد الإفريقي، محمد الأمين رئيس الاتحاد المصري لكرة اليد، ومسؤولي كرة اليد المصرية والإفريقية.

Railways collapse after solid start

A wrap of the first day of the ninth round of Ranji Trophy matches in Group A

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Dec-2012
ScorecardSourav Sarkar took three wickets to halt Railways’ progress•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Railways began the round with an outside chance of qualifying for the next round, made a good start, but collapsed after that. Asked to bat first by hosts Bengal, openers Amit Paunikar and Shivakant Shukla added 85 for the first wicket, at a fair clip, but once Sourav Sarkar dismissed Paunikar for 50, Railways couldn’t arrest the slide.Railways lost six wickets for 40 runs, the last one of those to Shib Paul, the injury-prone fast bowler who was playing his first first-class match in four-and-a-half years. Murali Kartik and Karan Sharma then added 68 for the seventh wicket, but Railways lost three more in one go. Kartik, who scored 48, was the last man to fall to what turned out to be the last ball of the day.
ScorecardIn the contest to avoid relegation, Rajasthan, the defending champions, made decent progress after being put in by Hyderabad. Rajasthan may have lost five wickets, but the smallest partnership they had was 40. The end of that partnership reduced Rajasthan to 82 for 2, but the reliable Vineet Saxena scored 84 to set them on their way.Ashok Menaria capitalised on the start with a quick 63, and while Saxena fell short of a century, captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar, playing his 100th Ranji Trophy match, added 42 before being bowled to the last ball of the day. The team that emerges the better side from this match will avoid relegation.
ScorecardZaheer Khan had a fruitful first day as captain of a first-class side, as Mumbai bowled out Gujarat for 244 in what is a virtual pre-quarter-final. Had hosts Mumbai not lost opener Kaustubh Pawar in the last over of the day, the smile on Zaheer’s face at stumps would have been even wider.Click here for the full report.
ScorecardGoing by day one, the Rajkot pitch confounded both sides, who were expecting it to turn early, and turn big. In the end, the innate slow nature of the pitch didn’t allow that. The lack of watering and rolling of the pitch over the last two days, in the presence of a BCCI curator, somehow added variable, largely low, bounce to the mix. Slow and mostly low made batting difficult for Saurashtra, who conceded whatever advantage winning the toss had given them by losing nine wickets.Click here for the full report.

Jair diz não ter sido avisado sobre Carille e faz planos no Corinthians

MatériaMais Notícias

Enquanto a diretoria do Corinthians trabalha para fechar a volta de Fábio Carille, Jair Ventura ainda faz planos para a próxima temporada. Em entrevista coletiva após a derrota para o Grêmio, em sua provável despedida do clube, Jair disse não ter sido avisado sobre as negociações com Carille e afirmou que segue trabalhando normalmente.

– Você sabe que a vida de treinador é sempre assim, principalmente quando os resultados não acontecem. Você olha um percentual, mas a gente não pode pegar só o percentual e falar disso. Temos que analisar as circunstâncias. Circunstâncias essas que quando nós chegamos, a maioria de vocês falou “você vai encarar uma situação como essa, de muitas mudanças, de várias perdas, de jogos decisivos?”. Por falar em número, de 80 equipes que iniciaram a Copa do Brasil, só restaram duas. 78 foram eliminadas, conseguimos uma classificação para a final, fizemos bons jogos. Acabamos perdendo alguns, e jogos que você perde diminui o percentual, mesmo sendo em mata-mata. Então, de repente, dentro do que tudo aconteceu, não foi tão bom. Mas de repente foi o possível. Poderia ter sido melhor? Poderia. Mas também poderia ter sido pior. De repente conseguimos fazer o possível dentro de uma circunstância que era muito difícil. Acho que ficou claro para todo mundo que isso acaba sumindo um pouquinho quando chega no final do campeonato. Mas faria a mesma coisa. Você receber o convite do Corinthians, independentemente da circunstância que era muito difícil, não tinha como não aceitar – afirmou Jair.

– Lógico que a gente poderia ter ido melhor no Brasileiro. Muitos falaram em rebaixamento, eu fui incisivo e cobrado por essa situação que eu falei que não caía, e realmente não caiu. A gente sempre estava com uns quatro times acima da zona de rebaixamento. Por issso também a gente falava que não ia cair. Teriam que cinco times ultrapassar o Corinthians. Chegamos agora no final do campeonato, queríamos a classificação para a Libertadores, mas conseguimos uma classificação para a Sul-Americana. Lógico que é pouco para a grandeza do Corinthians, mas dentro de todas as circustâncias, nós conseguimos ir para a final da Copa do Brasil, conseguimos ser campeões paulista, eu falo “nós” porque me sinto parte do processo. E sobre minha permanência ou não, sigo trabalhando e fazendo o planejamento, tudo normal. Tenho até dezembro de 2019 contrato, e a decisão fica sempre da diretoria. Mas sigo trabalhando normalmente. Quando você tem contrato, você só vai ser avisado se não for seguir. Desde o momento que não tem a conversa de não seguir, você segue sua vida normalmente como funcionário do clube – completou o treinador, na longa resposta após ter sido perguntado sobre sua situação.

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Jair ainda detalhou as “circunstâncias” citadas. O treinador foi contratado em setembro, antes do clássico contra o Palmeiras e da semifinal da Copa do Brasil diante do Flamengo. Sob seu comando, o Timão chegou à decisão da Copa do Brasil, mas perdeu para o Cruzeiro.

– Circunstâncias que quando eu cheguei toda a imprensa falava: de eu ter aceitado o convite em um momento delicado do clube, que vinha de muitas perdas, que vinha de desempenhos oscilando. Dentro dessas dificuldades de você pegar um trabalho em transição, a gente fez o que fez o possível. Foi o ideal? Não. É diferente ser bom e ser dentro do que foi possível. Mas dentro do possível, conseguimos uma final da Copa do Brasil, onde entrou mais de R$ 20 milhões na conta do clube, acho que qualquer clube fica feliz com essa situação. Oscilamos no Brasileiro, não estamos aqui para fugir dessa responsabilidade, e agora vamos fortes para 2019 – projetou o treinador, que ainda citou o planejamento de contratações.

– Sei de todo o processo, de todos os jogadores que vão, quem fica, que não fica. Mas já falei algumas vezes que vamos falar disso depois. Vamos sentar com a diretoria e explicar os jogadores que permanecem ou não – disse.

Embora Jair tenha falado sobre os planos para a próxima temporada, a tendência é de que ele seja demitido ainda neste ano. A expectativa no Corinthians é de que o acerto com Carille seja sacramentado nos próximos dias. Entre Timão e treinador já está praticamente tudo certo. No entanto, a multa rescisória com o Al Wehda (SAU) é de 700 mil dólares (cerca de R$ 2,7 milhões).

Em sua provável última entrevista coletiva. Jair também comentou sobre o desempenho do Corinthians na derrota por 1 a 0 para o Grêmio. Ele falou que teve “um bom papo” no intervalo e aprovou a melhora da equipe no segundo tempo, mas lamentou o fato de o Grêmio ter dominado e marcado na etapa inicial.

– Primeiro tempo total do Grêmio, a gente com uma postura bem abaixo. No intervalo, conseguimos de alguma maneira mudar isso. Tive um bom papo com eles, não gosto de revelar nossa intimidade, mas um bom papo dá para entender. Voltamos com uma postura diferente, fechamos com 65% de posse de bola. Inverteu: o Grêmio passou a ser o Corinthians e o Corinthians passou a ser o Grêmio. Fizemos um belo segundo tempo, mas em dois tempos distintos, acho que ficou claro isso, o Grêmio foi mais eficiente e o Grêmio conseguiu a vitória. Uma pena a gente ter oscilado dessa maneira tão drástica que nos custou uma vitória. A gente vinha conversando, foi uma das coisas que aconteceram de ter que levar o gol para começar a jogar, e aconteceu hoje. Nem sempre vai conseguir reverter a situação – afirmou Jair.

– Começamos o jogo com cinco meninos de 21 anos, muito jovens, e alguns da minha idade como o Danilo e o Sheik, que encerrou. Queria até desejar sucesso ao Emerson para sua carreira fora de campo. Que o Danilo possa ser campeão e feliz como sempre foi. Estamos buscando nomes, sabemos da necessidade de reposição. Não é nem reforços, porque perdemos muitos jogadores, o mercado vem muito forte com o time atual campeão. Estamos trabalhando, sabemos das dificuldades, mas também sabemos da necessidade para poder fazer um grande ano. Lembrando também que em 2008, exatamente há dez anos, o Corinthians perdeu uma final da Copa do Brasil e ganhou no ano seguinte. Pensamos em fazer ainda melhor ano que vem e conseguir o título como aconteceu há dez anos – acrescentou.

Apesar da derrota em Porto Alegre, o Corinthians ficou com uma vaga para a Copa Sul-Americana do ano que vem. O Timão terminou o Brasileiro em 13º lugar, com 44 pontos.

Tudo sobre

CorinthiansJair Ventura

De mão cheia! Fluminense goleia o River-PI e passa na Copa do Brasil

MatériaMais Notícias

Os “fantasmas” até chegaram a rondar a estreia do Fluminense na Copa do Brasil. Porém, o poderio ofensivo do Tricolor das Laranjeiras não deu espaços para a zebra atravessar seus sonhos na competição. Com gols de Luciano (2), Everaldo, Bruno Silva e Marlon, a equipe goleou o River-PI por 5 a 0, nesta terça-feira, no Albertão e passou de fase no torneio.

Más lembranças e pressão do River
O torcedor tricolor chegou a ter um mau presságio nos primeiros minutos do embate com o River-PI. A equipe comandada por Oliveira Canindé (técnico do América-RN em 2014) pressionou a saída de bola de Rodolfo e rondou a área, em especial com Bismarck e Liniker. No entanto, após o Fluminense abrir o placar, a equipe (que ainda não venceu em 2019) perdeu-se por completo.

Fim de tabu abre a porteira
O panorama começou a mudar aos 12 minutos. Luciano lançou Everaldo, que foi derrubado por Carlos Henrique. Coube ao camisa 18 converter a cobrança que quebrou o tabu de dez meses sem um pênalti a favor da equipe. Embalado, o Tricolor das Laranjeiras marcou o segundo logo depois. Everaldo recebeu da direita e bateu colocado na rede de Mondragon.

Goleada desenhada
Ainda no fim do primeiro tempo, o Fluminense começou a desenhar sua goleada. Yony González recebeu passe na área e foi derrubado por Cris. Desta vez, Luciano cobrou mal e permitiu a defesa de Mondragon. Mas, na sobra, Bruno Silva não perdoou: 3 a 0. Na volta do intervalo, o Tricolor das Laranjeiras ampliou em grande estilo: no rebote de um voleio de González, Luciano mandou um voleio para a rede.

Golaço!
Diante de um River atarantado, o Fluminense ainda encerrou a partida em grande estilo. Nos acréscimos, Marlon arriscou da intermediária para mandar a bola no ângulo. O Tricolor das Laranjeiras espera o vencedor de Votuporanguense e Ypiranga.

FICHA TÉCNICA

RIVER-PI 0 X 5 FLUMINENSE

Estádio: Albertão, em Teresina (PI)
Data/hora: 05/02/2019, às 21h30 (de Brasília)
Árbitro: Emerson de Almeida Ferreira (MG) – Nota LANCE!: 6,5 Jogo fácil. Acertou em dois pênaltis marcados e em três cartões amarelos
Assistentes: Celso Luiz da Silva (MG) e Felipe Alan Costa de Oliveira (MG)
Público/renda: Não Divulgado
Cartão amarelo: Carlos Henrique (RIV), Cris (RIV) e Caio (RIV)

GOLS: Luciano (14’/1ºT), Everaldo (18’/1ºT), Bruno Silva (44’/1ºT), Luciano (10’/2ºT), Marlon (45’/2ºT)

FLUMINENSE: Rodolfo; Ezequiel, Digão, Matheus Ferraz e Marlon; Airton, Bruno Silva (Marcos Paulo 27′ 2ºT), Daniel (Caio Henrique, intervalo); Everaldo, Luciano (João Pedro 35′ 2ºT) e Yonny González. Técnico: Fernando Diniz.

RIVER-PI: Mondragon; Carlos Henrique (Tote, intervalo), Audálio, Cris e Vitor Hugo; Liniker, Gustavo Henrique, Bismarck e Jonatas (Kaio, intervalo); Eduardo (Rhuann, intervalo) e Roney. Técnico: Oliveira Canindé.

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Empresário de Abel Braga confirma conversas com Santos e Flamengo

MatériaMais Notícias

Fábio Braga, filho e representante de Abel Braga, confirmou nesta quinta-feira ter conversado com Santos, Flamengo e mais um clube mantido em sigilo sobre a possibilidade de contar com o técnico para 2019. O treinador deu uma pausa em sua carreira em junho deste ano, deixando o Fluminense 11 meses após a morte um filho de 19 anos.

– Do Flamengo, houve uma consulta. Mesma coisa do Santos, um contato. Não se falou em tempo de contrato , valores e proposta. Queriam saber como seria o ano. Teve ainda um terceiro time, que é melhor não falar o nome – disse Fábio Braga, em entrevista ao site Globo Esporte.

O presidente do Santos, José Carlos Peres, já tentou o técnico no início e no meio deste ano, mas Abel recusou as propostas – a primeira, por estar no Flu, e a segunda, por querer voltar a trabalhar apenas no começo da temporada 2019. Peres já descartou dez nomes de técnicos e demonstrou priorizar o carioca.

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No Fla, o nome de Abel Braga ganhou força internamente desde sua saída do Fluminense, antes da Copa do Mudo. Na época, Maurício Barbieri estava no comando do Flamengo de forma interina, mas acabou sendo efetivado durante a pausa para a Copa do Mundo. Abelão, por sua vez, não chegou a ser procurado pelo Flamengo no meio do ano, uma vez que deixou claro que só trabalharia a partir de janeiro.

O treinador nutre carinho pelo Flamengo, onde trabalhou em 2004 e conquistou o Campeonato Carioca. Para Abel, a passagem pela Gávea foi um aprendizado e marcou sua carreira, que deslanchou nos anos seguintes.

A eleição presidencial do Flamengo, a ser realizada no próximo dia 8, tem duas chapas como favoritas: a Rosa, do candidato Ricardo Lomba, e a Roxa, de Rodolfo Landim. Os dois grupos viam Renato Gaúcho como nome ideal para comandar o Rubro-Negro na próxima temporada, mas o Grêmio, anunciou nesta quinta-feira a renovação de contrato com o técnico. Outras duas chapas concorrem: a Branca, de Marcelo Vargas, e a Amarela, de José Carlos Peruano.

لابورتا عن قضية نيجريرا: ليس لديهم شيء ليظهروه

أكد خوان لابورتا رئيس نادي برشلونة الإسباني، مرة أخرى على براءة البلوجرانا في التُهم الموجهة إليه بقضية نيجريرا.

ويواجه برشلونة اتهامات خطيرة بشراء الحكام من 2016 وحتى 2018 بدفع مبلغ قدره 1.4 مليون يورو لصالح شركة كانت ملك نائب رئيس لجنة الحكام السابق، خوسيه ماريا إنريكيز نيجريرا.

طالع أيضًا | ذا أثلتيك: لاعبو برشلونة يحلمون بعودة ميسي.. والنادي يصدمهم

برشلونة أكد على أنه سيعقد مؤتمرًا صحفيًا صباح الإثنين، يناقش من خلاله الرئيس خوان لابورتا ما يتعلق بقضية نيجريرا، والرد على رئيس رابطة الدوري الإسباني، خافيير تيباس.

وقال لابورتا في تصريح مقتضب نقلته صحيفة “سبورت” الإسبانية، اليوم: “ليس لديهم شيء ليظهروه، أنا واثق في ذلك، لأنه لا يوجد شيء من الأساس، ولكن كل ما فعلوه هو تضخيم الموقف”.

برشلونة يستعد لمواجهة خيتافي اليوم في الرابعة والربع عصرًا، في إطار سعيه لحسم لقب الدوري الإسباني بشكل رسمي، بعدما ابتعد بالصدارة عن ريال مدريد.

بطولات يكشف سبب غياب تقنية الفيديو عن مباريات الدوري

كشف مصدر داخل رابطة الأندية المصرية، سبب إقامة مباريات اليوم الخميس من الدوري المصري ضمن الجولة 22 من المسابقة دون حضور تقنية الفيديو.

وقال المصدر لـ”بطولات”: “إقامة مباريات اليوم بدون تقنية فيديو بسبب غضب الشركة المسؤولة عن التقنية من تقاعس اتحاد الكرة عن سداد مستحقاتها”.

وتابع: “الشركة أخطرتنا بإقامة مباريات الجولة الـ22 بدون تقنية فيديو، وطالبنا اتحاد الكرة بإنهاء هذه الأزمة؛ ولكن الاتحاد لم ينجح في إنهاء الأزمة”.

طالع | مرتضى منصور يصل مقر الزمالك للمرة الأولى بعد انتهاء حبسه

وأضاف: “اتحاد الكرة أكد لنا أنه يسعى لإنهاء الأمر في الساعات القليلة المقبلة، حتى تعود تقنية الفيديو للمباريات ابتداءً من مواجهات الغد”.

وأتم: “لن نقف مكتوفي الأيدي أمام هذا الأمر، وإن لم تنتهي هذه الأزمة في أقرب وقت، قد نلجأ لإيقاف الدوري لحين حل هذه الأزمة”.

Gayle 'takes all the pressure off' – Powell

The opener Kieran Powell has said he needed to divorce himself from Chris Gayle’s brisk scoring to ensure he did not throw his own wicket away on the second day in Antigua

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jul-2012

Chris Gayle’s quick scoring allowed Kieran Powell to play his own game•DigicelCricket.com/Brooks LaTouche Photography

The opener Kieran Powell has said he needed to divorce himself from Chris Gayle’s brisk scoring to ensure he did not throw his own wicket away on the second day in Antigua. West Indies will now set their sights on batting into day four after making such a strong start to the first innings against New Zealand, with the total having reached 145 for 0 at stumps on the second day.It was already the highest opening stand in a Test by a West Indies pair since Gayle and Daren Ganga added 162 in Multan in November 2006. The performance highlighted the importance to the West Indies side of Gayle, who was playing his first Test in more than 18 months, and he moved along to 85 from 124 deliveries while Powell shuffled along at his own pace to 58 from 164.”It’s a big relief because it takes all the pressure off your scoring,” Powell said of having Gayle at the top of the order. “The shots you see him play, you just have to put yourself in your own bubble and get away from that or you try and do things and get out. It wasn’t difficult, I just got myself in my own little bubble and just tried to steady. It didn’t matter what I saw at the other end from Chris. I just tried to stick within my limitations.”The West Indies openers had already undone much of the good work New Zealand had put together over the first day, although he deficit remained 206 runs at stumps. But with the world’s No. 4-ranked batsman, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, still to come, along with men like Marlon Samuels and Narsingh Deonarine, finding a way through to the West Indies tail looms as a tough challenge for New Zealand.”It’s always important to get a good start when you’ve got guys like that in your team,” Powell said of Chanderpaul and the middle order. “They know they can come in and play under no pressure and express themselves a bit earlier in their innings as well. We’ve got a good start early, so if we can bat the whole of tomorrow and a piece of day four we should be in a good position to bat once and have New Zealand out twice.”The New Zealanders felt they were on top after the first day, when they closed at 232 for 4, but Sunil Narine’s first five-wicket haul in a Test match meant they were dismissed for 351 soon after lunch on the second afternoon. Daniel Vettori said that although New Zealand’s bowlers hadn’t started as they would have hoped when Gayle and Powell walked to the crease, they believed the pressure was building by the end of the day.”It wasn’t the way we wanted to start but I thought by the end of the day we were actually bowling pretty well and starting to create some pressure and maybe if the session had gone a little bit longer we could have taken some wickets,” Vettori said. “You can’t give those freebies away to Gayle because he’s like a Sehwag, he’ll just really hurt you.I think we were going at sixes and sevens pretty early on and it puts you on the back foot and you have to bowl to defensive fields and you probably don’t bowl as well as you’d like. That was pretty disappointing after what was a reasonably good batting performance.”We created some pressure at my end, I thought Kane [Williamson] bowled really well and then Neil Wagner at the end, being able to get it to reverse and starting to ask some questions. That’s going to be a handy asset for us tomorrow. I think the goal is to keep West Indies around a par score, because that wicket is going to get tougher and tougher to play on.”Wagner finished his first day of Test bowling with 0 for 35 from eight overs and although he leaked eight boundaries, Vettori said that was not a reflection on how he had bowled.”He can actually bowl reverse and he does it really well. He runs in hard and asks a lot of questions,” Vettori said. “On these sorts of wickets he’s going to be tough going and we’ve got to make sure we create that sort of pressure so we can attack.”We need to make sure they come away about par and that’s by getting early wickets tomorrow, particularly Gayle’s wicket and probably Chanderpaul’s as well, because he has the ability to bat for a long time. If we can do that, who knows, we can create some pressure and the chance to win the game.”

Buttler propelled into the spotlight

Jos Buttler’s international career finally came alive at Edgbaston and in an instant his stock has rocketed

David Hopps16-Sep-2012

Jos Buttler was constantly told to back himself and his favourite scoop shot•PA Photos

Even in the instant world of Twenty20, it takes some believing that a single over can change the mindset of a team, never mind the player involved. But the 32 runs that Jos Buttler took off one over from Wayne Parnell in the final dregs of the English summer has become emblematic for an England squad seeking proof that they have the capacity to win the World Twenty20.Before his Edgbaston escapade, Buttler was just another skilful young player seeking to justify the faith shown in him. After one brief but violent assault he has instantly become one of the most talked-about players in town. “Which one is Jos Buttler?” is now a contender for the top ten questions in the hotel lobby, proudly ranked alongside other essentials like “is my room ready yet?” and “can you give me some change for the tuk-tuk driver”.For more than a year, Buttler’s T20 career was stillborn. He had 10 caps, but in six innings had reached double figures only once. Those who had watched him at Somerset yearned for his ability to overflow. But he got out twice in Dubai to his signature ramp shot and as well as enquiring of the batting coach, he even asked the team psychologist, Mark Bawden, if he should keep playing it. Bawden told him to trust his instincts as sports psychologists tend to do.Buttler, as he did in the aftermath of Edgbaston, spoke in Colombo of the confidence this has brought him, that he “feels calmer, more myself, more relaxed,” that his ability to repay the faith has given him a greater sense of belonging. A few days before the biggest tournament of his life it could not be better timed.”After the first one I hit, I thought ‘this is good fun, I can enjoy this’,” he said. “It was just one of those overs: he bowled it where I guessed and it just came off. I’m excited about gaining a bit of recognition or getting noticed. That can only be a good thing; it means you must have done something right for sides to know who you are.”But it is the positive impact that Buttler’s innings has made upon the England team that is so striking. England admittedly are defending champions, but they do not play much T20 and have little involvement in IPL. As one of the last sides to arrive in Sri Lanka, they could easily feel like visitors rather than contenders.Eoin Morgan, who in the absence of Kevin Pietersen is the batsman with IPL-cred, enthused about the wider impact of Buttler’s innings. “It was absolutely brilliant,” he said. “It gives everyone else around them belief that he can perform at any given time especially when it is to that extremity.”I’ve been watching Jos train for nearly a year now, and he’s phenomenal. We’ve all been waiting for this to evolve. The fact it has now is awesome for his own confidence, knowing that he can pull out a performance like that, and it is also great for the team.”It wasn’t easy for him in Dubai where it was reverse swinging, and it was among his first couple of innings. There were a lot of contributing factors to why he didn’t have a chance to go out and play the way he could. It is very timely he has now. Like anything, until you go out there and prove to yourself and you know inside you can perform, all the reassuring words run off your shoulders really.”The value of Buttler’s assault is even more important if you accept Morgan’s assertion that T20 is evolving so quickly that experience is often passed in the reverse manner, from young to old, rather like teenage sons showing fathers how to download an App. Morgan might pass on advice in team meetings about how to keep things simple, but he gets a lot back in return.”Everyone that comes through, you learn a hell of a lot more from,” he said. “You’re always a generation behind when you’re passing on experience. The way the game’s going, people are always bringing in new things.”England play the first of two warm-up games against Australia in Colombo tomorrow, at Nondescripts CC, a club with a name that Buttler need no longer fear sums up his international career. Pakistan follow on Wednesday before Group A matches against Afghanistan on Friday and India two days later.”I’ve played Afghanistan before, when I played for Ireland, and have been on a losing side against them, so I won’t be taking them for granted at all,” Morgan said. “They have a lot of up-and-coming players, and it’s a potential banana skin for us. If we don’t perform, there’s a chance they could sneak over the line.”But survive that and England move to Pallakele for the Super Eights, to face – barring shocks – West Indies, Sri Lanka and New Zealand and with the October monsoon approaching a little unsettled weather might help their cause, if not assist the batsman-friendly tournament for which the ICC must yearn.”Pallekele is similar to English conditions – it does do a bit,” Morgan said. “Research suggests it nips around which I’m not sure will be the most attractive Twenty20 cricket. But there’s every chance of these conditions, especially with the rain around – which we’re more used to after the summer we’ve had.”As for Pietersen-watch, he is about to arrive in Sri Lanka as an expert pundit for ESPN Star Sports. “I’d no idea he was coming,” Morgan said. “I look forward to seeing it. It could be quite funny.”The Pietersen imbroglio, he said, was not a dressing room obsession, but neither was it a banned topic of conversation. “No, it’s not like Voldemort, it’s alright,” he said.As Stuart Broad, England’s T20 captain, has occasionally been compared to Malfoy, this raises interesting possibilities. Harry Potter fans will tell you that Voldemort gives Malfoy a hug – an awkward, unfeely hug, but a hug nevertheless – in the final edition of Harry Potter. The first time he bumps into Stuart Broad, England’s T20 captain, in the hotel lobby could be quite touching.

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